Ei-iE

Quality public education in Haiti was highlighted when 20 representatives of 10 trade union organisations from Latin America, Europe, the United States, Canada and the Caribbean took part in a political mission organised by EI from 15-17 January. The aim of the mission was to support the Campaign for Quality Public Education for All, a campaign carried out jointly by the EI affiliate Confédération nationale des éducatrices et éducateurs d’Haïti (CNEH) and four other large Haitian education unions.

EI: Education key to reconstruction and development of Haiti

EI’s Deputy General Secretary, Haldis Holst, stressed that the international delegation was in Haiti to remind its rulers of their obligation to make education their biggest priority. Reconstruction and development of Haiti can only be achieved on the basis of quality education accessible to all, she said.

This  requires appropriate teacher training and an efficient recruitment programme, the recognition of teachers’ trade union rights and the establishment of a multi-partite watchdog to oversee the implementation of the Haitian government’s 2010-2015 operational Plan, which will cost an estimated US$4 billion to put into practice.

Call for a State-financed public education system

The observer mission met Haiti’s National Education Minister, Pierre Vanneur. “EI’s support for our campaign for quality public education for all is a pivotal moment in the pursuit of our efforts to change Haiti’s education system from a predominantly private one to a public system financed by the State and accessible to as many people as possible,” said Lourdes Edith Joseph Delouis, General Secretary of CNEH.

This support for a public education system in Haiti is crucial, because 85 per cent of pupils go to private school. The National Education Minister, who actively participated in writing the government’s organisational Plan, showed that he was open to greater dialogue with the trade unions. “For my   government, trade unions are full partners who must be strong and structured,” he said. “It gives me pleasure to work with them. Together we can move forward. We will work with everyone to ensure that Haiti has an education system that is truly national.”

Quality education needed to meet the MDGs

However, the members of the international delegation expressed serious concern at the Haitian government’s lack of political will to create a genuine public education system in Haiti, according to Luc Allaire of the Centrale des syndicats du Québec, an EI Canadian affiliate. This system is the only guaranteed way of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, notably that of providing quality education for all children.

At the mission’s closing press conference on 17 January, the EI’s Deputy General Secretary, Haldis Holt, said she was very happy with what the observer mission had managed to achieve. “We have had meetings with the Education Ministry and some government representatives, including the President of the Parliament and the chair of the Senate’s Finance Committee,” she said. “They listened to our demands for education for all.

“We told them that it was now time to move onto the implementation stage of an education system that brings all children together, that is of good quality, and is monitored by the State.  Finally, we initiated dialogue with the government. We would like this dialogue to become institutionalised with all the Haitian trade union organisations.”

Support for unions

The President of the Caribbean Union of Teachers, Marvin Andall, expressed his support for the Haitian education unions. He recalled that other countries in the Caribbean had also had a predominantly private education system that had been developed by religious congregations. “If we have been able to develop a public education system, then so can Haiti,” he said.